Account Of Uss Cole Blast Raises Questions

A New Navy Statement Left Some Wondering How A Small Boat Breached The $1 Billion Vessel's Security.

October 21, 2000|By Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- The Navy on Friday revised its account of last week's terrorist attack on the USS Cole in ways that raised new questions about how a small boat could have penetrated security around the $1 billion vessel.

A Navy statement said the destroyer had tied up at a fuel station in the Yemeni port of Aden nearly two hours before the bombing killed 17 sailors and wounded 39 more Oct. 12.

The timing was significant because it means the suspected suicide bombers did not, as the Navy originally said, approach the Cole posing as a work boat helping to moor the warship.

The blast occurred long afterward, when, given Navy security procedures, armed sailors should have been on the deck scanning the busy harbor for possible threats to their ship.

Shortly after the disaster, Adm. Vern Clark, chief of naval operations, told reporters that the Cole crew's "ability to deal with this kind of attack" had been "limited" by the mooring operation that he said was under way.

In its statement Friday, the Navy said its earlier account had been based on unconfirmed reports from the stricken ship. Al-Jihad, a radical Islamic group closely associated with Osama bin Laden, the Saudi militant who is accused of waging an international terrorism campaign against the United States, has emerged as a prime suspect in the attack on the Cole, according to U.S. authorities familiar with the investigation.

On at least one occasion, bin Laden's associates are reported to have used the same high-quality explosive -- RDX, short for Research Department Explosive -- that the FBI has determined was used in the Cole attack.